Baraka, Imamu Amiri

American writer of poetry, drama, essays, and music criticism.

1934 - Born Everett LeRoi Jones on 7th of October in  Newark, New Jersey.

Studied Philosophy and Religious studies at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and Howard University.

1954 - Baraka joined the U.S. Air Force reaching the rank of sergeant.

1957 - Discharged from United States Air Force service and moved to New York's Greenwich Village.

1958 - Founded Totem Press, which published such Beat icons as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

1960-1963 -  Married Hettie Cohen and they became joint editor of the Yugen, a literary magazine.

1960 - Baraka went to Cuba, which initiated his transformation into a politically active artist.

1961 - Published the Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note.

1963 - Published by Blues People: Negro Music in White America.

1964 - His play, The Dutchman, premiered and the he won an Obie Award for it.

1967 - LeRoi Jones adopted the Arabic name, Imamu Amiri Baraka, which he later changed to Amiri Baraka.

         - Baraka became a lecturer at San Francisco State University.

1968 - Arrested in Newark, for illegally carrying a weapon.

1970 - He strongly supported Kenneth Gibson's candidacy for mayor of Newark.

1979 - Became a lecturer at SUNY for its Africana Studies Department.

1984 - Baraka became a full professor.

1987 - He was a speaker at the commemoration ceremony for James Baldwin.

1989 - Won an American Book Award for his works as well as a Langston Hughes Award.

1990 - Co-authored the autobiography of Quincy Jones.

1998 - Baraka was a supporting actor as a griot in Warren Beatty's film Bulworth.

2002 - The state of New Jersey made him poet laureate.